West Coast Eagles News

West Coast defender Matt Spangher has asked for a trade from his club.

West Coast ruckman Dean Cox has played down trade rumours saying he wants to play with the Eagles next year.

"If body permits and my form warrants it I'll get another contract at the end of next year," Cox said.

"I just can't wait to finish the year, sit down with the match committee and start pre-season. Then the trade week finishes and beautiful, everyone will realise, 'He wasn't leaving'. "

West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr has set his sights on a full pre-season to return to his best in 2011 after a couple of horror seasons debilitated by injuries.

"With a couple of years that I've had off now, the rest of the body is actually feeling really good," Kerr said.

"I'll play the exact same way that I've played my footy throughout my career. I'd imagine I'd be playing in similar positions and if you take away that explosive speed and run I don't think I'm much value to any team.

"I've been resting for two years so the body does feel a lot younger than 27."

Nic Naitanui says he does have parts of his game to work on but critics need to realise that footy is hard for young players.

"It's pretty hard to teach them, especially if they haven't played the game before as well, they don't really understand how hard it is for some of the boys, 18, 19, being out there and having to do what they do," Naitanui said.

West Coast coach John Worsfold says it will be unlikely that he continues as coach of the side if the Eagles do not show some improvement next year.

"Improvement has to be here," Worsfold said.

"If we don't improve next year, I'll definitely be handing over the reins and saying someone needs to come in and start fresh with the group."

Sam Butler's perseverance is set to be rewarded with a new contract despite the midfielder's career thus far having been plagued with injuries.

"They've been amazing the way they've stuck by me and when I've been fit they've played me," Butler said of the Eagles.

"This is my seventh year now and I've played less than 70 games, less than 10 games a year. No player hopes to do that over a seven-year career. The biggest disappointment is not being able to repay the faith the club has put in me."

Matthew Priddis says teammate Mark LeCras is still likely to make a full-time move to the midfield at some stage despite being one of the competition's best small forwards.

"Once we get our full list up and going and the depth is there then I think he'll definitely spend more time in the midfield," Priddis said.

"I think that's why he's so good, because he's so versatile and he's just so different. He's got the goal-smarts and he knows how to find space, so he brings that to the midfield."

John Worsfold says Mark LeCras' 12-goal haul against Essendon was among the best ever produced by an Eagle.

"There's not too many bags of goals kicked like that, so that's one of the great forward performances, for sure," Worsfold said.

"He's been a great player all year for us, and he's kicked goals all year for us. We knew he marks on a lead, we know he's clever on the ground, so he didn't do anything that we're not aware of. Just the weight of it was great."

LeCras' 12 goals was the most ever kicked by any player at Etihad Stadium.

West Coast captain Darren Glass says if a better, younger captaincy option emerges in his absence he is happy to hands over the reins.

"If I'm not the best man for the job I don't want to be captain," Glass said.

"We'll probably assess that at the end of the season. We've got some terrific young guys (and) part of it will go on what the playing group thinks."

West Coast midfielder Andrew Embley will play his 200th game against Adelaide but says his side needs to show some character after being relegated to last place on the ladder following a bad loss to Collingwood.

"This weekend is not about milestones, it's not about individual players or anything like that," Embley said.

"We need to really show a bit of character. Coming off a loss like that, a lot of people will be watching to see how this group responds."

Eagles skipper Darren Glass will undergo season-ending groin surgery on Monday.

"He felt as though over the last two or three weeks as he's built up it's just got slightly sorer each week," Eagles coach John Worsfold said about Glass' failed attempts to rehabilitate from his injury.

"If he built up to get ready to play, it was just going to get sore again."

West Coast utility Mark Nicoski will have shoulder surgery next week, ending his season prematurely.

"I could have gone through the rehabilitation process of recovering from the most recent injury, but it was probably only going to pop again if I received a solid knock," Nicoski said.

"This season is over for me, but I can use the latter part of the year to build up the strength in the shoulder for pre-season training and to get ready for 2011."

Sam Butler suffers a fractured foot and may be out of action for up to two months.

West Coast coach John Worsfold says he is confident his position is safe based on private conversations with Eagles board members despite the Eagles' poor form this season.

"Privately I'm very comfortable with the relationship I have with [the board] and my understanding of where I'm at," Worsfold said

West Coast coach John Worsfold says he is conscious of ruck prodigy Nic Naitanui's workload for a second-year player and that a rest could be imminent after a noticeable drop in form over the last few weeks.

"Nic is still just a second-year player who is carrying a big workload. We monitor it non-stop. We're always looking at the young players and their workloads," Worsfold said.

"We're aware that we've got a bye coming up in four or five weeks, we know that's on the radar. I would expect he'd be fine to get through to the bye."

Eagle Pat McGinnity is fast earning a reputation as a hard-nosed, defensive midfielder, and said he was pleased to keep the dangerous Cyril Rioli goalless in an 8-point win over Hawthorn at Subiaco.

"A player like him can kick three in five minutes, so I was pretty nervous going into the last quarter," he said.

"It's daunting when you respect someone so much, because I've watched him for over a year and he's such a good player. There's a few of his traits I'd like to build on my own [game], so you can't really beat around someone you respect like that."

West Coast midfielder Chris Masten will be sidelined for up to six weeks with a knee injury, but does not face surgery.

"I have damaged the lateral ligament, which means I will be out for only five to six weeks," Masten said.

"It felt very similar to the posterior cruciate ligament injury I suffered late last season so I knew it was going to mean a spell on the sidelines.

"When I hobbled off the ground to the bench I was shattered, but I didn't want to show the boys how I was feeling. I had to stay positive and encourage them because they were a man down with more than a half to play."

West Coast's 2010 woes worsened after a derby loss to Fremantle that saw Chris Masten suffer a knee injury.

"The extent we don't know obviously until it's scanned, but you would expect he would miss games," Eagles coach John Worsfold said.

"He obviously had the same thing last year, which was a long time out, but sometimes it can be only minor and they have two or three weeks out. That's the range at the moment."

A YouTube video depicting Eagle Nic Naitanui as a spear-waving tribesman who speaks in clicks has been pulled from the side after complaints from anti-racism groups.

"As a society we have moved on from the days when this type of humour was considered acceptable. There are laws in place that allow police to achieve the removal of these sites," Ethnic Communities Council of WA executive officer Suresh Rajan said.

Emerging ruck talent Nic Naitanui says he anticipates a diminished role when Dean Cox returns to full fitness.

"I don't know if Coxy likes it on the bench too much but I'm sure it will change around soon," Naitanui said.

"I will either start on the bench or up forward when he's up and going at full flight. If we can get both of us on the field at the same time we can have a bit more of an impact."

West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui surprises no one by winning the round four NAB AFL Rising Star nomination.

Naitanui says he is not overly concerned with winning the season's NAB AFL Rising Star award for 2010.

"I don't really pay attention to it. I'm there to win games, that's the main thing. If something like that happens, it happens. I'm not too fazed about those kind of individual awards at the moment," he said.

Naitanui added that the pressure on Jack Watts who was selected before him in the 2008 national draft and has so far failed to impress is unwarranted.

"I spoke to Jack last week. We have the same manager and keep in touch pretty often. It's sad that he has that pressure on him," he said.

"He doesn't get fazed though, that is the good thing about him. He doesn't pay attention to it and he just plays his footy and enjoys it."

Eagle ruckman Dean Cox says the game's increasing speed has meant less one-on-one battles in the midfield.

"I think with the rotations now you don't really see the great one-on-one battles any more, especially through the midfield," said Cox.

"The players getting tagged are trying to get off and create and get some space or lose an opponent. They may go to half-forward to try and remove a tag."

Sydney Swans ruckman Mark Seaby says after years of whippings on the training track against Dean Cox he is looking for revenge when his new side takes on the Eagles at the SCG.

"I've never really taken on Dean in a full-on contest so I think it's a challenge I've been looking forward to for a while," Seaby said.

"I've learned a lot from Dean. Training against him is probably where I've learned my most and hopefully I've learned a few new tricks I can try."

West Coast's Daniel Metropolis says it was difficult not to show emotion in the coach's box as young ruckman Nic Naitanui dominated against Essendon.

"He's shown that he can have such an influence and be such a massive impact player who turns the game," Metropolis said.

"At times when you see him you are just in awe. He's such a raw talent the way he approaches the game and the improvement he's had. He's going to get so much better - that's the exciting thing for us."

West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr has continued the Friday night curse after suffering a hamstring injury against Essendon.

A survey of coaches says Nic Naitanui can become the competition's premier player, ahead of Michael Hurley and Cyril Rioli.

The Herald Sun reveals that Nic Naitanui has benefited from a pre-season where he has trained with the aid of an earpiece connected to an iPhone stitched into his jumper.

"There's no doubt it (the phone link) has helped Nic's training throughout the pre-season, but Dean Cox has also played a big role encouraging him and teaching Nic where to go," Eagles midfield coach Scott Burns said.

"They are definitely working well together in that regard and it's fantastic for Dean also at this stage of his career to get some relief in the ruck and not have to spend 100 per cent of his game time there.

"There's been a lot to learn but Nic's understanding of his role and the structures around the ground has improved significantly."

West Coast could be fined if the AFL determines its use of a mobile phone at three-quarter time to be a breach of match-day rules.

Ruckman Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox were seen using a mobile phone and are believed to have been receiving advice from ruck coach Simon Eastaugh.

We have all other sorts of communication," Eagles coach John Worsfold said.

"We can have it from a coach's box to a player on the ground, so we're assuming there is no difference."

John Worsfold says ruckman Dean Cox is aware of his form slump in the first two rounds of 2010 and does not need a spur from the coach.

"He knows where he's at and you can see in his body language that he's disappointed with the way he's performed in the first two rounds", Worsfold said.

"And I don't really need to tell him that for us to be winning games we need him performing at his best - that's expected of every player. He's determined to play better. Even with his current fitness level it's no excuse not to impact the game when he's on the field."

West Coast's Shannon Hurn looks set to miss the next two matches after he was charged with a rough conduct offence against Port Adelaide's Paul Stewart.

Stewart suffered a broken nose, was knocked unconscious by Hurn's bump and had to be stretchered off the field.

West Coast coach John Worsfold says forward Quinten Lynch must work on improving aspects of his game if he wants to return to the senior side after being dropped for his performance in round 1.

"Quinten's got areas of his game he has to work on to become the player that we need," Worsfold said.

"He's been aware of those things for a few years and still hasn't addressed them. So he needs to show that he can fix those areas to become a good enough player to help us go forward and get to where we want to get to."

West Coast forward Mark LeCras is almost certain to miss the Eagles' round 2 match against Port Adelaide due to a hamstring complaint.

"He's still a bit sore in his hamstring so probably unlikely to play this week considering how it's feeling at the moment,'' Eagles coach John Worsfold said.

"He cramped up in the last quarter of the game. Most players that cramped have got rid of that soreness by today, his hasn't resided yet.''

West Coast coach John Worsfold says Beau Waters is a chance of returning after nearly two years on the sidelines.

"Beau's a good chance to play - it's pretty exciting. When he started playing in the pre-season he was just excited to be pulling on the boots and he was getting nervous again," Eagles coach John Worsfold said.

"It's great to see him back playing footy."

West Coast midfielder Adam Selwood expects 2008 draftee Luke Shuey to be given an early opportunity to put last season behind him.

Shuey was plagued with groin, leg and hernia injuries in his first year at the Eagles.

"From the year he had last year, I know all the players are behind him and we hope he gets the game this week," Selwood said.

"He's going to be a quality player for West Coast, but it's just one of those feel-good stories going through what he went through last year. It would be great to see him debut."

The Herald Sun reports that a coronial inquest has revealed drug-related incidences witnessed by Ben Cousins on the night his friend, West Coast Eagles premiership player Chris Mainwaring, died.

These include Cousins seeing Mainwaring with cocaine on a plate and Mainwaring's wife Rani washing a quantity of cocaine down a sink.

West Coast has added ruckman Will Sullivan to its senior list as insurance against injury to Dean Cox or Nic Naitanui.

"This wasn't made with round one in mind," Eagles coach John Worsfold said of his decision to elevate Sullivan.

"This decision was made for the season, Will's on our senior list now for the whole year. We didn't talk about injuries at all, other than the unlikely case that both our recognised ruckmen were injured."

West Coast has stressed the need to sign Nic Naitanui to a long-term contract in order to stave off bids from Gold Coast and GWS.

"It's imperative that we do sign Nic and our all of our young players," Eagles boss Trevor Nisbett said.

"It's also important to keep it in perspective that Nic still has got a hell of a lot to learn.

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey says Jack Watts is aware that stories comparing him to West Coast's Nic Naitanui are going to get written particular after Naitanui impressed in the NAB Cup opener against Essendon.

"Jack's going to go about his business. Jack wants to play as well as he can, as soon as he can for the Melbourne footy club and what's written is written and what's said is said," Bailey said.

"We're not going to be distracted by outside stories that are written - they're going to be written anyway regardless of who it is. But Jack's concentrating on developing his football and we've seen that in the last month, so that's good."

West Coast coach John Worsfold says Nic Naitanui's dominant NAB Cup display has forced him to change the way he plans to use the youngster.

"He's had a really good pre-season this year, so straight away he's miles ahead (of last season). He's fitter, he's grown (and) he's stronger than he was last year. That means he's more equipped to cope with AFL footy," Worsfold said.

"It's opened up a lot of different challenges for us as a match committee."

West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett says Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox will be a formidable ruck combination for the Eagles in 2010 under coach John Worsfold.

"John's made it clear already that both Dean and Nic will spend a lot of time in the forward line when the other is on the ball," Nisbett said.

"There's no doubt they will both be sharing the workload. John's said that, and that is the great value in having both of them."

A dominant display from West Coast Nic Naitanui gives his side a 35-point NAB Cup win over Essendon at Subiaco.

The young ruckman had 21 hitouts, 7 clearances and kicked 3 goals against the Bombers, earning high praise from Essendon coach Matthew Knights.

"He is the most awesome young talent running around in the game at the present time. The talent, the recovery, the speed and the willingness to keep jumping all night - he really had a special game," Knights said.

Eagles assistant coach Peter Sumich says Chris Masten's brilliant display at the club's first intra-club match was a bonus for the club.

"'Masto' looked sharp running away from packs, whereas over the last probably 12 months with that groin injury he hasn't done that," Sumich said.

"So to come through that game and look sharp is a bonus for us."

Luke Shuey will be given a golden opportunity to put his injury woes behind him when pitted against Daniel Kerr in Wednesday night's intra-club match.

"I don't think he'll keep up with Kerry in some aspects of the game, but I think he'll learn a lot," Eagles coach John Worsfold said.

"It's not a tagging role - it's a role where you're matched up on Kerr, so he's got to make some decisions himself. If he thinks he can win it and read the game better he should get after it."

John Worsfold says gun midfielder Daniel Kerr will spend more time up forward in 2010 in a bid to prolong his career.

"But there's no doubt you'll see Kerrey playing forward probably more than he has in the past," Worsfold said.

"Not to protect him but to get the best out of him, make him add most value to the team."

West Coast captain Darren Glass says he expects Daniel Kerr to return to his best form in 2010 after struggling with injury throughout 2009.

"Kerry has had quite a horror run with injuries and suspensions and all sorts of things holding him back from playing good consistent footy," Glass said.

"But he's up and going this year and he looks pretty sharp on the track."

A pre-Christmas abdominal strain may keep ruckman Dean Cox out of West Coast's NAB Cup match against Essendon.

West Coast wingman Tim Houlihan will have tests on Thursday to determine the severity of an injury sustained at home when he lacerated his foot in a domestic accident.

Arthroscopic knee surgery will delay the comeback of West Coast defender Beau Waters for up to six weeks.

New West Coast recruit Gerrick Weedon will wear retired Eagle David Wirrpanda's No. 44 jumper.

"I've always looked up to 'Wirra' - he was my idol - so I'm pretty proud to wear his number," Weedon said.

"I've always wanted to play AFL footy, that was my dream and this is what I've got. So I'm pretty happy."

A love of the style of football played by the Selwoods has West Coast draftee Koby Stevens looking forward to joining forces with Adam and Scott.

"I've always idolised the Selwood brothers and to be over here with two of them is pretty cool," Stevens said.

"The way they go about their footy, I think they're really professional and they're hard at it. I saw them out there training today and they were just going for it".

West Coast draft pick Brad Sheppard says he will be pushing early for senior selection.

"I'll see how I go with training and everything, but I wouldn't rule myself out of trying to get a game early on," Sheppard said.

"You're not here to have a little ride along, so you want to push for selection first up and hopefully train well."

West Coast is expected to surprise at the national draft when it overlooks wingman Lewis Jetta with its first pick.

The Eagles are believed favour of East Fremantle defender Brad Sheppard instead.

Shannon Hurn and Josh Kennedy have been added to the leadership group at the West Coast Eagles.

"The elevation of Shannon and Josh is indicative of their standing within the squad," senior coach John Worsfold said.

Young West Coast midfielder Luke Shuey's horror injury run continues with a hernia operation.

"It looks like he might have tried to do a little too much over the break, got a bit excited," Eagles assistant coach Daniel Metropolis said.

"But it's minor surgery and we expect in two or three weeks' time he'll be ready to start and get going again.

"So disappointing for him, but we thought it was important to get it fixed now."

West Coast ruckman Dean Cox appears well over his groin troubles as the Eagles begin pre-season training.

West Coast's Beau Waters is finally over his complicated elbow injury and made an early start to pre-season training.

"He's had nearly two years off in a sense, so he's just looking forward to getting out there," assistant coach Sumich said.

"The rehab's gone fine. It's like anything, you've just got to wait and see with the contact and how far he takes that."

Mark Nicoski is on the verge of signing a two-year deal with West Coast, meaning Jamie McNamara has been forced off the club's list.

Sam Butler played a total of 22 games combined last season in the AFL and WAFL, something he is looking forward to making a habit of.

"That's the most I've ever played in a season since I started playing footy. It's something I didn't know I could do," Butler said.

"So to come out of this year knowing that I can is a big boost for my confidence. It gives me the opportunity to play a full season, hopefully back it up with a full pre-season and then hopefully a full season again."

Mark Seaby's desire to join the Swans was driven by the prospect of becoming the club's first-choice big man.

"They were very interested from the start. They said they could see a role for me at the club, so I'm very happy to be here," he said of the Swans.

"Initially it looked like I was going to be playing alongside Darren Jolly and that would have been great, but obviously with his move to Collingwood, there's an opportunity there to be the No. 1 ruckman."

Homesickness was only part of the reason behind Bradd Dalziell's return home to play with West Coast.

"Playing games in Brisbane I was enjoying myself, but being left out of the side got my thinking about other things other than football," Dalziell said.

"I was just a bit frustrated towards the end of the year, not being able to play senior footy [while] playing good footy in the local league.

"This is a good opportunity to come back home and play some good senior footy."

West Coast, the Sydney Swans and the Lions look to have arranged for four players to change clubs.

Amon Buchanan and Brent Staker will head to Brisbane, Sydney will acquire Mark Seaby while the Eagles are set to gain Brad Dalziell.

"It's a good opportunity for him (Buchanan). We had some discussion with him at the end of the year - both us and Amon were undecided - should he stay at Sydney or should he go," Sydney coach Paul Roos said.

"He's a premiership player and a fantastic player, but probably his past couple of years he's been battling a little bit.

"Brisbane was interested, so we were happy to facilitate that, which means we can get Seaby in."

Veteran Eagle Tyson Stenglein retires from AFL football.

"I weighed up a lot of options and I decided that that (retirement) is the best option for me and the footy club going forward," Stenglein said.

"I was once told by a wise man, 'The best time to start thinking about retirement is before the boss does'.

"I've had the privilege of playing alongside and against the best footballers in the country and on the biggest stages."

West Coast captain Darren Glass has won the club's 2009 best and fairest award ahead of Shannon Hurn and Mark LeCras on Friday night.

"I want to get back into pre-season," Glass said.

"I've got lots of things I can work on. I want to add to the offensive side of my game and just keep improving.

"There's no doubt this year we were better defensively as a team and I'm pretty confident we'll make improvements on that again."

Teammate Tyson Stenglein took the opportunity to announce his retirement after 102 games for the Eagles at the awards.

West Coast coach John Worsfold says the Eagles will try and find Brent Staker a new club in trade week after Staker told the Eagles he wanted to explore his options with other teams.

"We obviously don't have to trade him but we have to be clear that we believe we've got the depth here and therefore we can offer to Brent the opportunity to do what he wants to do, which is get the most out of his footy career. We're not going to curtail that," Worsfold said.

"One of Brent's things was he wanted to have a crack at becoming a midfielder. We'd played him as a forward a fair bit. We were supporting that with him and unfortunately the injuries this year prevented any progress in those roles."